Ricky Gervais never has been a shy performer, but if he's going to receive criticism, he at least feels people should know what they're criticizing.

Gervais specifically is referring to his series Derek, which aired its pilot on British TV last year, followed by a seven-episode first season early this year. The series will be available in North America for the first time starting Thursday through Netflix.

"I think the risk is people not watching it and making assumptions - that happens quite a lot," says Gervais, whose Derek Noakes is a simple, awkward, kind soul who works in an old-age home.

Many assume at first glance that the title character is mentally challenged in some way, but Gervais says that's not the case.

"There were so many assumptions out there, like it was cruel," continues Gervais, previously the creator of The Office and Extras. "I think that follows you around.

"I treat everything I do with a sort of Darwinian approach. I do what excites me at the time. So I don't think about the risk. I know there is (some). There is always risk, though. I think the reward is, hopefully, everything I do is the favourite thing I've done so far, and that's certainly true with this."

Derek is described as a bittersweet 30-minute comedy/drama focusing on the title character, his co-workers and the residents of the old-age home. One of the characters, Dougie, is played by Karl Pilkington, who is well known to longtime Gervais fans.

"He was very nervous," Gervais says of Pilkington, a former radio producer who gained fame through Gervais' podcasts and then went on to star in Gervais-produced TV reality series such as An Idiot Abroad. "He goes, 'I'm not an actor.' And I explained to him, I wrote the part for him.

"He's fantastic in it, by the way, and he can act. Afterwards he felt good. He said, 'I wasn't acting, because I was actually getting angry.' I went, 'That is acting.' "

As for Derek on the whole, usually when I hear the word "bittersweet" in a show description, that translates to me as, "heartbreakingly sad." There is an element of that here, as the spotlight shines on characters who largely are ignored by mainstream society.

Once Derek actually began airing in the U.K., critical reaction was mixed. But ratings were good enough that a second season has been ordered.

"As strange and quirky as it might look, a group of outsiders working in an old people's home is quite a classic format of sitcom," Gervais says. "There's usually a family, either a literal family, or it's the army, prison, you know. And the other aspect is they have to be trapped in some way, again either literally, like in a war or prison, or emotionally. They can't get out, it sucked them in.

"But this is a show about kindness first and foremost. Derek is innocent, he's childlike and he's in awe of the world. He only does the right thing. He doesn't think about it. He just does it because that's who he is."

Ricky Gervais introduces ‘Derek’ to North America

Ricky Gervais never has been a shy performer, but if he's going to receive criticism, he at least feels people should know what they're criticizing.

Gervais specifically is referring to his series Derek, which aired its pilot on British TV last year, followed by a seven-episode first season early this year. The series will be available in North America for the first time starting Thursday through Netflix.

"I think the risk is people not watching it and making assumptions - that happens quite a lot," says Gervais, whose Derek Noakes is a simple, awkward, kind soul who works in an old-age home.

Many assume at first glance that the title character is mentally challenged in some way, but Gervais says that's not the case.

"There were so many assumptions out there, like it was cruel," continues Gervais, previously the creator of The Office and Extras. "I think that follows you around.